On February 17, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute released their County Health Rankings reports, which rank each state's counties on health factors and outcomes. The launch was announced at a briefing held in Washington, D.C., and included speakers Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of RWJF; David R. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.H., Norman professor of public health at the Harvard School of Public Health; and Patrick Remington, M.D., M.P.H., associate dean of public health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The launch also included a panel of experts in public health, health policy, education and business to discuss the implications of the County Health Rankings and strategies for making communities healthier places to live.

The reports are the first tool of their kind to provide rankings of the population's health at the county level and allow viewers to observe disparities in population health between counties. They build on America's Health Rankings™, which have provided reliable, state-specific rankings of population health for 20 years, and on the Wisconsin County Health Rankings reports, which have been providing county-level health rankings since 2003. Counties are ranked on health outcomes, such as morbidity and mortality, and determinants of health, such as the physical environment, social and economic factors, clinical care and health behaviors. The reports provide policy-makers and public health professionals with the information they need to assess the health needs of their community and to design and implement plans for improving the population's health.

This resource was developed to call attention to many of the health problems that currently exist within and between counties, in the hope that it will prompt efforts to improve the health of disadvantaged communities through evidence-based policies and programs.

For more information about the County Health Rankings, please visit the project’s Web site at www.countyhealthrankings.org.